2012+Erb+v.+Iowa+State+Board

Seth Jacobs ** Richard Arlan ERB, Appellant, **

** v. **

** IOWA STATE BOARD OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, convened as the Board of Educational Examiners, Dr. James M. Walter, President, Appellee. **

No. 55838.

** Supreme Court of Iowa. **

March 27, 1974. Background:  Richard Erb was a teacher at Nishna Valley Community School. He and Margaret Johnson, a fellow teacher, were having an affair. Robert Johnson, Mrs. Johnson’s husband, believed the two to be having sex with one another. Mr. Erb was helping Mrs. Johnson in designing of a boutique store she wanted to open after she left teaching. Mr. Johnson became suspicious of the affair and one night hid in the trunk of the Johnsons’ car. He hid while she was at school for a few hours. She left with Mr. Erb and they went to a secluded area where he heard both parties having sex. Mr. Johnson failed a complaint against Mr. Erb in hope he was fired and lost his teacher certificate. The school board voted 5 to 4 to remove Erb has a teacher as he was morally unfit to teach.

Decision and Rationale:  Mr. Erb admitted to the adulterous affair with Mrs. Johnson. Mr. Erb’s teaching certificate was revoked and he appealed to the Supreme Court of Iowa. The Supreme Court of Iowa raised concern that they did not allow Mr. Erb’s lawyer to cross-examine the witnesses. Yet, Mr. Erb did not acknowledge so the court stated they could not do anything there. However, the court did have a problem with the court portraying their own morals onto the decision and stated the board could not do that. The board also stated the board didn’t have sufficient evidence to convict Mr. Erb. The court finally stated the board illegally acted in terminating Mr. Erb’s teaching certificate. Impact on Teaching:  This case shows that if a teacher has “bad” morals to some people, it should not determine their ability to teach. Also to add, while they can’t remove our certificate for something as adultery, it’s possible that the community we live in would fire us over such things. Question:  Can a teacher’s certificate be revoked for violating certain morale’s in a community? Answer: No 

**216 N.W.2d 339 (1974)** 

Richard Arlan ERB, Appellant,


v.


IOWA STATE BOARD OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, convened as the Board of Educational Examiners, Dr. James M. Walter, President, Appellee.
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> [|No. 55838.] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">March 27, 1974. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">by Gabrielle Slay <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
 * Supreme Court of Iowa.**

Summary: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Richard Arlan Erb is challenging the BOE in the revoking of his teaching certificate. He got his certificate revoked because he was having an affair with a fellow teacher, Margaret Johnson. Margaret's husband, Robert Johnson had early <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> suspicion about the affair and decided to get to the bottom of things. Mr. Johnson hid in the trunk of his wife's car and heard her and Mr Erb having sexual intercourse. Mr. Johnson decided that he needed more hardcore evidence so he got other witnesses to come with him and spot Mr. Erb and Mrs. Johnson together. While spying the group of witnesses took multiple pictures that identified the two individuals half dressed. Mr. Johnson decided that he wanted a divorce and asked Mr. Erb to disclose the information to his wife. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> Decision: <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> After being forgiven by his wife and community Mr. Erb's certificate was still taken away. Multiple people testified that the situation did not effect his ability to properly educate students. Although, this did not affect the jury's selection of revoking the certificate. Although the court had issues with the Board's decision. The Board's own moral values came into play when making their decision. Also they did not have sufficient evidence to find Mr. Erb guilty of not being eligible to teach. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">The board acted illegally in revoking his certificate. Trial court erred in annulling the writ of certiorari.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Implication: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">This case shows that although teachers may have bad home lives that situations doesn't not always affect their ability to teach properly. Although if these situations are known the teachers should be closely monitored so that no harm is done to students. This definitely does not mean that a teacher's certificate should be revoked if it doesn't mess with their teaching ability.